Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Well, it came around fast - another Christmas Eve after another busy year.

Here's wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas and holiday over the next few days. For me, its a chance to unwind with the family and stretch the paintbrushes over the next week in Curt's Painting Challenge. I'm looking forward to it - in fact, I can hardly wait.

Monday, 16 December 2013

Just a quick update on Dragonmeet 2013, which was held in Kensington Town Hall last Saturday, 7th December. I’d intended to post the following photos last week, but a combination of other distractions (preparing ranks of figures for Curt’s Painting Challenge), Christmas tree purchasing, Christmas tree decorating and (again) work, kept me occupied for a lot of last week and this weekend.

However, I can report now that Roundwood Towers is amply festooned with Christmas decorations, allowing me to turn to blogging again.

As my daughter was attending her first convention, I didn’t arrive as early as normal at Dragonmeet. By the time we arrived, about 2pm, things were already well under way, with a host of games being played in the main hall (as participations) and in the various break out rooms.

Dragonmeet is a fun convention, and we found no problem in finding a couple of games to play – the first of which was “Lords of War”. My daughter, as I mentioned before, is very much into worlds of fantastic literary adventure. So she really enjoyed the easy, card driven mechanics of Lords of War. It’s a perfect game for any young person who likes beautifully produced cards and finds game mechanics fun. The premise of the game is that your hand of cards represents your army, and that each card has differing attributes. Slightly scissors/paper/stone (with quite a few complications), but definitely none the worse for that. Easy to pick up, fun to play – what more can you ask? We bought a copy of both decks, so you can tell we enjoyed it. Later playing at home has confirmed that it’s a fun game for all the family – so, a keeper in other words.

We also played a fun game called Camelot, which is set in the world of King Arthur and features tile-laying as the players decorate the King’s hall. The tiles and artwork are stunning and there’s more than enough to keep a younger player happy for an hour. We played a couple of games and enjoyed it a lot. And yes, we bought a copy to play at home. Further “research” this weekend has proven it makes a good after-dinner game with non-gaming friends, something which is always a bonus in the Roundwoods’ social calendar.

Also in the purchase pile was a lovely Cthulhu Britannica supplement entitled “Folklore”. This is a wonderfully produced supplement from Cubicle 7, following up a fine book in 2011 called “Shadows over Scotland”, and earlier works in the Cthulhu Britannica stable. For a number of reasons I’ve been eagerly waiting for “Folklore” for a while. I’ve long enjoyed non-Mythos focused Cthulhu adventures, and I’ve been interested in British folklore and legends for many years. I love reading Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories from the stables of James, Blackwood and Le Fanu. So the “Folklore” volume has been high on my list of titles to acquire for a long while. Without giving a review of the book, it’s enough to mention that Black Dogs, folk magic (including transformation into an owl) and Welsh hill giants all feature (among others) in the book, which is a splendid addition to any Call of Cthulhu library, or indeed any gamer’s library where recreating elements of British Folklore is the goal.

We wrapped up the convention with a visit upstairs to where blogger-supreme Ashley was again running games of Ogre. Ashley’s Blog, Paint it Pink, is a store of Ogre related and science-fiction miniatures information and chatting to her about the gaming hobby is always a pleasure. And yes, the new Ogre edition has a huge box!! A great game, re-issued to hopefully entice a whole new generation of gamers into this excellent game.

Finally, me and Eleanor made it to the Kensington Council Chamber to catch the last 20 minutes of “Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff – Live!”. As podcast fans might already know, “Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff” is a really excellent podcast about roleplaying and gaming in general. The hosts, Ken Hite and Robin D Laws are wonderfully informed and genial hosts whose conversation meanders through discussions on gaming, literature, cinema and food. It was a privilege to see them in London and to say hello to them later, with Ken very generously signing a copy of “Double Tap”, his new book.

And with that, we left. Three hours well spent. Long enough to see everyone and everything we wanted to and play some games. Short enough to prevent an 11-year old daughter from getting bored. So, in other words, a great convention and an excellent day out.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Apologies for the interruption in the (already spasmodic) service of this Blog, but I’d been busy. Nothing terrible, no bad news, but a huge project at work has kept me away from enjoying my hobby. One of my colleagues mentioned that almost every day over the past four weeks has been like going the full 15 rounds with Marvin Hagler.

Which can’t have been very marvellous for anyone on the receiving end in the ring (Sugar Ray excepted!), and hasn't been much fun for me living the metaphor !

However, the end of this particular project is in sight, and Christmas is approaching. Which, for many people means trees, tinsel, carols and shopping. But for me, in additional to the usual seasonal fun means two wonderful things.

First, it’s Curt Campbell’s 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I took part in last year and very kindly was given the chance to run again this year. As you all know, I like painting, am not very fast, frequently get the colours muddled, but redeem myself usually by being very enthusiastic. Hopefully, a perfect participant in other words! I have no illusions of winning (and indeed there are far better painted in the Challenge than me). For this participant, however, it’s the chance to take part which means the world.

I’ve set myself a (for me) super-challenging target of 700 points. If I get there, I will over the moon. If I manage to complete any of the bonus rounds, I’ll be even happier.

Good luck to everyone taking part, and may the best brush win!

Second, it’s Dragonmeet 2013 in London on Saturday. As long time readers might (or might not) remember, I really enjoyed my visit to the show last year. It’s really a roleplaying event, but I’ve loved roleplaying as well as wargaming for as long as I can remember and, for me, the two parts of the hobby complement each other in numerous ways. I’ve been looking forward to attending the show this Saturday for many weeks now, and have stored up a short-list of things I’d like to buy.

The big news is that this year I shall be accompanied by my daughter, Eleanor. Yes, hard to believe isn’t it. Eleven years ago I’d not have believed my newly-born daughter would be asking one day to come along to a roleplaying convention. I guess stranger things have happened. But she loves books about fantastic lands and adventures, she very much enjoys the board games we play at home as a family (Talisman, Cluedo, Heroica and others) and she’s been asking me about my hobby for years now. I thought she might enjoy a brief trip to Dragonmeet, which has a super-friendly atmosphere, if only to give her a glimpse of the fantastic world of a great hobby that one day she might want to take part in herself.

If you’re going along to Dragonmeet, I’ll look forward to saying hello. And I'll hopefully post a review of the show over the weekend.

Until next time, mes braves – good luck, and get those paintbrushes ready!

Monday, 11 November 2013

I travelled up to Nottingham for Blog-Con on Saturday and I thought I’d share my thoughts on a great event and a very fine day’s gaming.

Nottingham is one of those large cities in the UK which I’ve driven past hundreds of times but which I don’t know at all well. I had a good look at the City Centre when walking through to Foundry, where Blog Con was being staged. I came across one of those remarkable automata clocks which seemed to be an essential part of British shopping centre design in the 1970s. Slightly mad, but fun all the same. It still seemed to be drawing a big crowd, even at 9.50am on a Saturday morning.

Blog-Con and Foundry turned out to be very easy to find. It was precisely as depicted on Ian’s helpful Blog-Con blog post, and only 5 minutes (if that) from the Victoria Centre. I’d estimated that about 30-35 bloggers and gamers made the journey for BLog-Con, which makes it a very respectable turn-out for a first convention.

The helpful folks at Foundry put on a great event, allowing us to make use of their great venue and fine tables, some of which were slightly insanely contoured. One chap mentioned that their photogenic properties looked great on “Midsummer Murders”, for which they were originally built, even if standing troops on them was a real challenge.

I ended up playing three very fine games on the day. One game of “Chain of Command”, and a couple of games of “Blazing Saddles”. “Chain of Command” is fast becoming one of my favourite rule-sets, and the excellent game staged by great chum and Friend-of-Lard Mike Whittaker on Saturday was no exception.

Set in a “small village on the South Downs”, it featured the Home Guard defending against a German assault from the “Crooked Billet” public house in the direction of Walmington-on-Sea. (Yes, THAT Home Guard). The German forces (commanded by yours truly) had to fight their way into the fringes of Walmington against a stout defence mounted by England’s finest (commanded by Glenn).

True to form, if not to history and accurate battlefield tactics, I decided to recce forward with my German armoured car, probing against the Home Guard and hopefully exposing their weak spots. Oh yes, it was one of those games, with more laughter, double-entendres and BBC light comedy jokes than you could shake a stick of Walmington-On-Sea pink and orange twirly rock at.

We played for well over a couple of hours, with the result being very much in the hands of the valiant Home Guard. I managed to get my armoured car destroyed in a characteristically brave assault by Sergeant Wilson, wielding his “stocky bombs” with panache.

Corporal Jones died a hero’s death, defending his butcher’s van to the last. Captain Mainwaring stayed out of the thick of the action at first – clearly playing the role of orchestrating defences instead of wielding his Webley – but came good in the end with an inspired piece of loop-holing which involved exploding a cluster of hand-grenades on the south wall of Warden Hodges’ “Fruit and Vegetable Emporium”. A wonderful game, umpired with great skill by Mike, and one which saw Glenn being a very worthy winner. Great entertainment, and proof that “Chain of Command” is as a lot of fun in a wide variety of settings.

The other two games featured Dave "One Man and his Brushes" Docherty’s fantastic western town, Serenity. I spent a good half an hour soaking up the atmosphere before playing a couple of games. The details were amazing – from prospectors’ camp sites, to funeral arrangers, to a saloon (complete with card sharps and “soiled doves”, to a gun store at which you could swap your ancient single-shot rifle for a Winchester repeater. Dave had thought through everything you needed for a perfect recreation of a Western town.

But the most wonderful of all the additions was a 28mm scale train, which in each of the games would slowly leave Serenity station on the turn of a card (after signalling departure by a couple of blasts from Engineer Jones’ whistle). I think there are two things which immeasurably improve any wargames table – boats, and a train. So, I was kind of in heaven before the first game even started.

The scenario was broadly the same in both games – the villains have to rescue Johnny Ringo and get him out of Serenity on the Yuma express. Leaving at 3.10pm, no doubt. The Sherriff and his shotgun wielding deputy, Stumpy, have to stop the villains. A mob of Pinkerton Men is on hand to take Johnny Ringo into their own kind of custody in Tombstone for a fat ransom. And, of course, Billy the Kid is riding through Serenity just in time to add his own brand of teenage insanity to the mix.

Both games were simply terrific. I played the Sherriff in one, and the Pinkerton Men in another. Suffice to say that the first game ended with me arranging a lynching – that should persuade the Townsfolk that the Sherriff should get elected again next year – and the second involved one of my Pinkertons running down the track after a disappearing Johnny Ringo on the train, leaving for Yuma scot-free.

The rules, “Blazing Dice”, very generously available on Dave’s site, were perfect for a participation game. You could literally learn them in five minutes. They were card driven, with endless ability to build them out to add in new events and characters. Dave is a great umpire, and I can honestly say that if you ever get the chance to visit Serenity, you should most definitely not hesitate to give it a try.

Last, but never least, I want to say a big thank you to James, Ian, Andrew and Dave who organised Blog-Con, to Bryan and Diane for letting us play at the Foundry location, and of course to everyone else for coming (particularly to Fran and Ray for keeping me company in "The Forresters" until my own train rolled in to Nottingham). Thanks so much to all of you!

I very much hope this will be an annual event. I’ll certainly be coming next year if it is.

Friday, 8 November 2013

Tomorrow is Blog-Con and I'll be travelling up to Nottingham to meet up with James, Ian, Dave, Paul and Andrew for the World's first wargames bloggers convention. Thanks to the generous hosting by Wargames Foundry at their premises, I'm looking forward to a really great day of meeting bloggers, chatting about the hobby, playing a few games and seeing friends.

After a few frantic weeks, it'll be a great time to chill out at a venue and just play some games. Above all, I think it's a great idea that people sharing the blogging hobby (writing, reading, commenting or posting), who are also wargamers, have got together to do something very different and unique.

I had grand plans earlier this week of listing wargaming items which I am hoping to give away - yes, you heard that right - give away at Blog-Con to a good wargaming home. As chance would have it, this week I've been stuck at work all hours and I've not had chance to work out a list. I've literally loads of stuff which I have decided I'm never going to paint, or books I've read, or rules I've played and not really liked. I'll bring some of that wargaming treasure on the train tomorrow (the best stuff!), and if you're interested, ladies and gentlemen, its all yours with my very best wishes.

Monday, 4 November 2013

Another year, another Crisis over in Antwerp! Out of all the wargames shows we visited, this is perhaps our favourite. Perhaps it’s the fantastic location of the Belgian city of Antwerp which makes the weekend, or the fine food and wonderful beer. Perhaps it’s the fine quality of the Crisis show, which brings gamers, hobbyists and traders from all around Europe for the one-day show in a venue which is truly enormous. Or perhaps it’s the warm welcome we enjoy every year from the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, the organisers and heroes of the Crisis show, and everyone we meet at show and afterwards. Whatever the reason, it’s a very fine wargaming event indeed, and this year was no exception.

Many, many thanks to everyone who dropped by the TooFatLardies game set in the Western Desert 1941 to play, say hello, or just to chat. It was great meeting everyone, old friends and new ones. I met so many people over the weekend that I know I will forget someone – but here goes: a big hello and thank you to Jur, Peter, Michael, Jakob, Rob, Rene, Suchet, Gilles, Richard, Stephen, Jim, Derek, Dave, all of the Gentlemen from SESWG in Edinburgh, Martin, Leon, Neil, Dave, Chris – OK, OK….so there were a few, and doubtless I have forgotten many. It was great seeing you all. I hope you enjoyed the two days as much as I did.

I thought I’d spread the photos over two days. So today, here’s the photos from our game and the evening entertainment. I’ll post the photos from the many other great games tomorrow or Wednesday.

So, on to the game. We decided to put on a game of “Chain of Command” in the Western Desert. When you’re running a participation game at a show, and trying to sell some copies of the rules on Richard’s behalf, travelling light with minimal terrain is the way to go. Sadly, the madness of carting twelve terrain boards half-way across Europe is, well – simply madness. So we opted for a simple, but hopefully effective terrain using some of the desert scenery we’ve built up over the years and a large box of sand and gravel from B&Q!

No Western Desert game is complete without figures and vehicles, and yes – of course there’s a Rolls Royce armoured car. And, as an empty desert isn’t much fun for anyone, we built some ruins of an ancient temple and a dry wadi (the “Shawadi-wadi”) to centre the action upon.

We played three games during the day. Embarrassingly, I have only the haziest idea of who won each game. I dropped in and out, mainly chatting with the players about the game and the rules as opposed to tactics and strategy. Most of the time I spent with people dropping by the game, chatting about the hobby and just about every topic under the sun.

And here’s one of my favourites - a great and very fine photo of Michael, myself, Jakob, Rob and Rene. Good meeting you chaps!

The Antwerp evenings are always a highlight of the Crisis show. Nothing too strenuous this year, but a couple of very good meals and some fine Belgian beer, including a visit to the wonderful Peerdestal restaurant off Hoofdkerk Straat.

Hope you enjoy the photos, and I’ll post the photos I managed to take of the other games tomorrow or Wednesday.